Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is increasingly becoming a medically accepted alternative to pharmaceutical pain treatments. TENS was originally introduced for treating chronic back pain, and then later extended to treat other types of pain as well; however, the mechanism by which TENS treatment methods reduce pain are not fully understood. Current theories suggest that TENS activates central nervous system opioid receptors, and/or increases levels of endorphins. However, receptor activation by TENS is also not well-understood and complex, and the type(s) of opioid receptor(s) activated and the extent of activation can vary depending upon variations in TENS stimulation parameters. In addition to the lack of understanding regarding TENS mechanisms for managing pain, current TENS treatments exhibit susceptibility to patient and body region variability, require substantial manual adjustment of treatment parameters, are motion-limiting, lack portability, and/or are difficult to use.
There is thus a need in the pain management device field to create a new and useful system for managing pain. This invention provides such a new and useful system and method.